Enola Gay pilot's log among top lots at Bonhams' WWII sale

The flight log of Brigadier General Paul W Tibbets (1915-2007), pilot of the Enola Gay, will provide one of the headline lots at Bonhams' World War II auction on June 5in New York.

It contains the records of every flight he undertook throughout the war, including the bombing of Hiroshima, and is valued at $75,000-100,000.

The log contains details of every flight Tibbets flew during the war

In 1976, the US government was forced to apologise to Japan after Tibbets recreated the attack at a Texas air show.

In March 2002 a logbook written by co-pilot Captain Robert A Lewis that offers a blow-by-blow account of the bombing sold for $391,000 at Christie's New York.

The original transmission copy of Joe Rosenthal's iconic photograph of marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima carries an estimate of $50,000-80,000.

It was sent to the Associated Press in San Francisco on February 24, 1945 and reads: "Marines Hoist Flag Atop Suribachi-- United States Marines of the 28th Regiment, fifth division, hoist American Flag atop Suribachi, Iwo Jima volcano, after battling Japs to top the crater."

The image became one of the most recognisable of the war and was reproduced extensively, later forming the basis for the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia.

We have this photograph of the flag at Iwo Jima signed by Charles W Lindberg, who helped raise it.

Follow the link to our free newsletterfor the latest on militaria and other collectibles.